Liverpool Banter 2

02 Nov 2026 10:59:17
I hate it when player falls to the ground or act like they've been shot with the slightest touch and wasn't looking forward to seeing Gabriel do his stuff yesterday. He didn't let us down with a blow to the face that would knock out the best heavyweight boxers, only he didn't get touched in his face, just a push in his chest.

In my opinion a VAR review and a yellow for cheating.
Having said that we have Macca who drives me mad, a wonderful player but loves to dive around the place but yesterday he was outdone by Havertz who falls with every challenge, that boy was almost needing an ambulance every 10 minutes!

02 Nov 2026 11:14:45
Havertz is the worst. He even wanted to contest that drop ball after a head injury. Horrible horrible player.

02 Nov 2026 11:55:39
Sorry but I think Macca took the prize for the worst playacting yesterday. Utterly embarrassing.

{Ed025's Note - the sad thing is Mikey it was thoroughly expected mate..

02 Nov 2026 12:05:46
Arsenal are absolutely maddening to watch. I was fuming all game watching them dive and flop. Lewis-Skelly came on for Guimaraes and his first action was to dive to win a foul. I was raging!

I know people are talking about the Isak penalty, but Tzolis had two hands on Gakpo in the box as well. Whether force was being applied or not, two hands on an opposition's waist is a foul.

Ultimately, the referees are rewarding them for it. So they feel validated.

{Ed025's Note - then again FPF you could say Liverpool got away with a few as well mate..especially Trey who got very lucky with a couple of poor challenges, of course you are only looking at the Arsenal ones as is your want, i thought the ref was ok even though the Isac one was deffo a pen but feel it was more down to VAR than the actual referee, its hard to have sympathy for you though when you have a prick like Macca taking the piss out of the ref with his constant cheating and play acting..sometimes you reap what you sow..

02 Nov 2026 13:30:02
Ed025 - nobody is asking for sympathy from an Everton fan :)

{Ed025's Note - good because you are not getting any mate.. :)

02 Nov 2026 09:54:39
Morning all,

First time at Anfield and the city for me in decades yesterday. Liverpool has come on in leaps and bounds as a city since the grim days of the late 80s. All of Liverpool should be proud and the hospitality and friendliness hasn't changed. Love it here.

On the game I think we were asleep for the first 15 and paid the price. We struggled to break down an organised defence and that is a problem we have for a few seasons even under Klopp and last season under Slot. On the players, the amount of running Wirtz does is crazy and I would say hurts his game second half. Barcola needs to trust his ability to take on his man more. Isak was a mystery to me. The three of these need to do better but I think they will if they can figure out how not to crowd each others space. Was impressed by Trey and while I understand the reason to replace him to go more attack minded I think we got worse when he departed. The rest were all ok to be fair. Some mistakes, some good moments but this was an hard game against a difficult opponent who know how to defend a lead. Atmosphere was amazing and how i remember it.

Give it time and patience I would say. Enjoy the ride. A bit like Klopp's early seasons there will be ups and downs. Stick together and we will get there.

YNWA.

02 Nov 2026 10:03:12
Well said Jon, instant success is not what happens in football and the ride there is always the best part.

We will get top 4 and will keep improving as the season goes on.

02 Nov 2026 10:51:27
Barcola (apart from his hattrick game) hasn't looked any better than Rio. Both never take a man on and attacks just stall while they decide who to pass to, Barcloa is rapid apparently, when has he shown that in a one on one?

02 Nov 2026 10:53:10
3rd Anfield game for me this season where we've failed to score from open play.
I may have to ban myself 😬

I can still see the improvement and we're not that far off the top teams.

02 Nov 2026 09:45:40
Imagine if klopp had gotten this money instead of Ben davies and Ozan kabak. he would have won league titles every year.

02 Nov 2026 10:25:10
I disagree. Since the clubs had a lot more money to spend, we've not spent it well atall. Frimpong and Kerkez have been poor purchases. Kerkez may continue to improve and certainly improve in the final third but the money paid and expectation was a lot greater than what we're witnessing.
These 100 plus million players have nowhere near performed to their price tag.

Barcola has a lot to do to look a top player. I couldn't believe we sought him out and paid the money we did.
Midfield hasn't been addressed now in w years. The midfield needs a complete do over to transform the team. Macca should be moved on with Ryan. Dom has a lot to work on to be a starting CM.

02 Nov 2026 12:24:53
Your evidence doesn't create a case for an argument, Ron, Sonic's point is that we would have built a much better team under Klopp.

02 Nov 2026 19:03:47
I don't completely 'buy' that Klopp didn't have money (other than in the Covid season, which is when we bought Kabak and Davies, albeit maybe even then? ).

Some posts on here over the years, including IIRC from Ed002, said that Klopp was very loyal to his players and therefore didn't spend even when money was there.

Think about it, it's the same owners, Klopp was a top tier manager who won the CL and the EPL and competed with Cheaty over several seasons. If they are backing Slot and Iraola, it seems daft to suggest they didn't equally back Klopp.

On balance, I think it's the manager rather than the owners that made the decision to spend or not over his reign.

02 Nov 2026 09:21:19
So after yet another big game we are talking about decisions from the Ref/VAR.

We could speak for hours how inept they are but the thing that gets constantly ignored is players reactions and how they influence the decisions.

Isak, does exactly what football fans want. Doesn't go to ground, doesn't really protest yet is rewarded with nothing.

Then you have the polar opposite in Mac, goes to ground very theatrically, infers that he is playing up and Noni gets away Scott free! If he just raised it to the ref, I think he gets booked and walks.

The players are on a hiding to nothing, I can almost guarantee if isak goes down every man and his dog accuses him of buying it. If Mac stays up and doesn't make a big deal of the head movement pundits say he needs to be abit more 'cute'.

Then you have the Arsenal players buying free kicks left right and centre and getting exactly what they want.

Long story short it's almost impossible for a ref not to be influenced by a reaction. Player falls and grabs the ball, ref. immediately things it must be a foul. If a player doesn't complain they think 'oh nothing to see'.

The only way to fix it is VAR and the officials behind the screen being stronger. Give those decisions and players might start staying up. But continue to ignore it and we are going to get even more dark arts in the game.

Apologies for the ramblings, on my phone waiting for my car to be finished at the garage 😂.

02 Nov 2026 10:19:54
Can't argue with any of that.

02 Nov 2026 10:39:46
The officials make a rod for their own back. They complain about the players diving but then give every decision when they go down and don't give it when they stay on their feet.

How that wasn't given on Isak is a mystery to me. I mean, how blatant does it need to be before pulling someone back in the box as he's about to head the ball becomes a foul?

I said in a post the other day the refs are encouraging teams to cheat. They reward it. Arsenal go down under every contact and 9 out of 10 times will get the free kick. It enables them to control games by just not allowing it to flow and having as much time as possible with the ball not in play.

Then we get the pundits saying Isak should've gone down but in the same breath criticising Macca for doing exactly that.

I think we just have to embrace it because it's not going to change. It's not how I want to see football played but as long as the refs are enabling it we have to take advantage like everyone else does.

{Ed025's Note - dont compare Macca to any other player past or present in any form of the game RSO. the guy is a serial cheating little turd mate..

02 Nov 2026 10:50:07
Penalty and a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity 100%. Changes the game massively. Absolute joke of a decision.

02 Nov 2026 12:12:51
I don't like the play acting at all, but Madueke took his forehead to Macca's. He was on a yellow already! By the letter of the law, he should have got another yellow and sent off.

Players have been going down for that contact for 20 years+. You might remember Darwin Nunez pushing his forehead on Anderson vs Palace on his home debut. The massive lad Anderson was on the floor holding his face like he'd been shot. Everyone said Darwin was stupid and deserved it. Madueke did exactly the same thing yesterday.

{Ed025's Note - dont try and justify what Macca did FPF it makes you look very silly mate, most of your posts are usually quite balanced but this one challenges that view to the hilt im afraid..

02 Nov 2026 13:25:10
Fly, maccas reaction was way over the top and exactly what we call others out for. What Noni did was silly and we have seen others go for it. But because of the theatrics it nullifies the incident.

Which is the whole problem, what reaction is too much and which is too little to highlight what was wrong?

Another example is Havertz yesterday on one of Nyoni's early tackles. Nyoni is late, but havertz goes down like he's been shot. The purpose is to get the player booked and heighten the refs attention to it.

Simply, they all play the game in order to try and gain an advantage and until refs are stronger it will only worsen. But we as fans can at least call it out even when it's our own. Otherwise nothing will change.

{Ed025's Note - the first one did catch his ankle WYred and must of hurt, the second one was a bit innocuous for me..

02 Nov 2026 13:53:19
In my opinion the PGMOL love this general debate because it shifts focus off of there poor officiating. Refs have more help now than ever before and it is well within there influence to catch blatant cheating, diving, play acting etc but they fail to act. In fact they reward such cheating by awarding soft penalties and giving red cards for what would have been described as 'handbags'. As it's topical look at Isak yesterday, clear pull back and penalty but refs avoided a decision because he didn't throw himself to the ground, pundits up and down the country are now saying 'why didn't he go down and force it', in my opinion Webb should come out and say that we got it wrong, we don't want players simulating to win pens and reinforce the message that the refs will give a penalty regardless.

Simultaneously I hope there comes a day when players get sent off for simulation, blatant simulation. Players being shoved in the chest and then holding there face, dropping to the floor with the brush of a forehead honestly it's embarrassing and this is all teams including our own! We need to bring the game back to what it was, a physical battle, I'm not advocating for bad tackles or endangering players but a bit of integrity. How often do we see 6 foot athletes have a hand brush there back when there trying to clear a ball and suddenly they drop to the floor because they 'felt contact', honestly it's so infuriating to watch .games gone!!

{Ed025's Note - absolutely spot on Dow-ney, both Gabriel and Macca were both guilty of it yesterday mate..

02 Nov 2026 13:54:53
Putting your head against another's is a foul and second yellow card. That is what Madueke did. You can't just change the rules when you feel like it.

Argentine Macca being theatric after 75 minutes of Arsenal players flopping and diving around all game shouldn't really surprise anyone.

The referees have shown they are willing to reward it.

We've lost between 4 and 8 points to massive officiating errors this season and we've only played 9 games. Don't complain when Liverpool players start playing dark arts from now.

{Ed025's Note - START playing at he dark arts???, you have been as guilty as anyone at it FPF..."people who live in glass houses" and all that mate..

02 Nov 2026 09:00:26
Can we really argue that much about not n beating Arsenal
Yes the money paid means the results should happen quicker but it is what it is I think lfc are heading in the right direction

Just need to be far more potent up front turn and get the shot off on target more often.

02 Nov 2026 09:13:35
Dont get this "right direction" thing. so much was hyped around Adoni Irola and his training methods. We have a Goal difference of +3 while brighton is sitting at +16. It was said any manager would walk the league with this squad while slot was incharge. it looks like we would need at least two seasons to get anywhere near at the top.

02 Nov 2026 09:24:57
Sonic, you are saying what I was saying all last season and was repeatedly shot down on here.

02 Nov 2026 09:25:02
Every top team is paying money. Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and City have all paid enormous amounts of money through the years assembling their squads.

It does take time to get cohesion and alignment to new ideas at the highest levels. This is the Premier League. It is not just getting across one formation and basic idea. It's what to do if this happens, or that happens, or that happens or when to do this, how to do that times 1, 000. It's takes a long time to get your full plan across and the team being able to execute 100 percent.

I know people love to simplify everything. We are Liverpool and we should not accept anything less then a Premier League. It's fine to say standards must be met etc. but the reality is, we need to build towards that. I ll be first to get annoyed when we are not building towards that but there's already been marked improvement in many areas this season. Defence is far better, we are getting in many more dangerous situations.

It is true to say we are making many wrong decisions in the final third but that is improving also. Slowly.

You can look at the game yesterday and say we lost one nil without a shot on target. However we created a lot of dangerous situations. Attacked a lot. The team made many efforts to score goals and were not passive. Arsenal put their bodies on the line and made many last ditch tackles. Teams have been completely dominated by Arsenal and have gotten 3 or 4 shots on target. I prefer to not get dominated like we did. I'm not happy with the result but I just can't understand how anyone watches that game and thinks we are not heading in the right direction.

{Ed025's Note - not having a shot on target at home with half a £billion of attacking talent is not heading in the right direction Davey, i get you want to put a positive spin on things mate...but come on..

02 Nov 2026 09:38:34
Were we heading the wrong direction under Slot in his first season where he walked the league with Gravenbech and Szobozslai who most agree needs replacing @davey. A lot of people like Irola becasue of reasons unknown to me personally. hence this "right direction" thing, We absoultey got dominated by brighton the other week. was that also "Heading the right direction".

02 Nov 2026 09:40:36
Ha ha @Rome, seems we two are heding the "wrong direction".

02 Nov 2026 09:45:27
Good post, DS.
I'll add that we limited Arsenal, the champions, to three shots on target and easily had more shots than them.

02 Nov 2026 10:16:45
We played some good higher intensity attacking football yesterday and deserved a draw, but that's the fine margins.

It's a well balanced thread this though because Rome and others are right, the reason we didn't win the game was the failure of a few of the players, their decision making, their qualities ultimately. Iraola also got the substitution wrong.

The difficulty in the league as others have said is that quality and depth wins out over 38 games. Iraola is a good coach, but he isn't great, he isn't Klopp, not yet anyway. Our players aren't great, they're good or very good, but other teams in the top six have just as good or better, including the coaching and analytics.

With the money we've spent on attackers you'd expect at least one great player, like a Torres or Suarez in the new buys, but they're just not that good. There's no X factor with any of them, too predictable.

The challenge we've got is having spent all that cash on them we can't afford to go big again in attacking spend without offloading at least one of them. We can't have £250k a week players sitting on the bench. Same goes for Szob and Grav in the midfield. They don't seem effective at all in the positions they're playing if we want to win consistently at the highest level.

Some big decisions ahead if we want to win anything big over the next few seasons. The silver lining is the city sanctions mean they're likely to be out of the picture, so domestically it's only really Arsenal that we're behind in terms of competing for silverware.

02 Nov 2026 10:17:02
I really hate the shot on target stat. I know that stats and lies are almost the same thing but the shots on target one has to be the largest one.

If in a game one teams shots 10 soft balls direct right into the goalkeeper hands, they will have 10 shots on target but zero with any danger.

Even XG is a better stat and that one also has it problems.

02 Nov 2026 10:36:33
A lot of posters on here have short memories and are behaving like spoilt brats.

02 Nov 2026 10:22:30
We are not the finished article ed25. I fully get that the team needs to improve in front of goal but Iraola has had a whole host of problems to contend with from last year and he is addressing them.

I thought it was a solid performance at this stage and certainly improvement. Macca has a guilt edge chance, we hit the crossbar, and there were many last ditch blocks.

Maybe we should have hit one no hoper from far out to break the stat but I think the team was just genuinely trying to get a goal instead.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

{Ed025's Note - i thought you were decent Davey but you have to be a lot better in the final third mate, dont get me wrong Arsenal were very good defensively but you have to be sharper in front of goal..

02 Nov 2026 10:08:15
Sonic, I've also said we are heading in the right direction. I say this from a point of view that we are better defensively and we look to attack quicker. However, there are still areas of concern, in my opinion, despite spending squillions in the transfer market. Areas of concern being the 3 players who we've spent in excess of 100 million pound on. In addition to a left back who has the intelligence of a sheep.

Going back to yesterday's game, I thought the substitutions made us worse. Szoboszlai contributed nothing, and moving forward I'm struggling to see how we accommodate both him and Wirtz in the same side. It really is a test of Iraola's tactical nous.

{Ed025's Note - thats a terrible thing to say about sheep Rome.. :)

02 Nov 2026 11:18:44
Sonic - i agree to a point about Slot not being the sole issue for our failings last year but to say that Brighton dominated us last week is utter nonsense.
Get the penalty yesterday for the pull on Isak and that changes the game when we were totally dominating for that period. Same can be said about Grav being sent off against City - it's small margins that have massive impacts on games!
We were good value yesterday for a deserved point & if Arsenal had gone home empty handed they'd have zero complaints with their shocking anti football mindset.
We've lost twice to two bloody good sides imo but there are definitely improvements which are clearly visible.

Onwards & upwards!

02 Nov 2026 11:38:03
I agree on that Ed. I'm not ignoring that the finishing and final third decision making needs work. It is not just bad lick. but I do think that piece will come because we are getting up there far more regularly now.

The team is out of practice from last season watching the team play around at the back.

Bradley and Wirtz are improving in many areas but the finishing is still leaving both down. They are snatching. But If they keep turning up in the positions, I'm hopeful it will turn around.

It was a frustrating one, but I ll take that performance for where we are at.

What we simply need to do now is win the next two winnable league games with a top standard and then we can move forward.

Also, I think Bradley Barcola is better on the right. I definitely would have started Gakpo left and Barcola right. Think Gakpo would have got one or two good opportunities cutting in given how much we got up there and he is a better finisher than Barcola. Barcola has been showing some decent stuff as a a setup man on the right.

02 Nov 2026 12:29:26
I'm not surprised you don't understand it Sonic, after all, you say we got absolutely dominated by Brighton when we won 2-0.

02 Nov 2026 12:26:54
Ed025, you are absolutely right. I sometimes post on here without any care for the feelings of others. Can I hereby use this platform to wholeheartedly apologise to the sheep community for any offence I may have caused.

May I also say, in fairness to Kerkez, whenever I've seen him on the bench, his crayoning is coming on a treat; he rarely goes over the lines.

{Ed025's Note - love it Rome..

02 Nov 2026 08:56:36
I think it's sad for football that we now have a manager who feels he has no choice but to state on TV that players should go down in the box to ensure penalties are awarded. Referees and VAR incompetence are pushing this narrative along with the likes of Arsenal whose players go down like they've shot at the slightest of touches. I know we have our own Greg Luganis but they seem to have a fully trained synchronized team of divers. Last season it was their pulling and dragging at corners and freekicks.

It's disheartening to see a top team play football like this, there was a time the spoilers were the teams fighting to stay in the League, now the champions are as bad. In my opinion the PL is becoming a worst product with Arsenal as champions. Others may see it differently but when City and ourselves were going toe to toe it was great football to watch, now it feels there are so few great exciting attacking games to watch.

02 Nov 2026 09:05:51
Yeh it's bad. We're all on here slating Mac for his nonsense, yet Isak has proved that cheating is the only way.

02 Nov 2026 09:21:28
Absolutely right McG. We (all fans) were lucky to have both Klopp and Guardiola for a decade, because of the open, expansive style of football that they preached and played. Every time I look at Arteta, I see Diego Simeone, and their common style of "win at all costs football - the dirtier the better".

02 Nov 2026 09:34:32
Given our expensive array of attacking talent isn't it up to us to lead the way and show how the game should be played?

02 Nov 2026 08:15:27
A lot of talk about the fact we don't have a midfielder who can win the ball back, which is true. But we don't have a senior midfielder who can pass either. I don't think the lack of creativity will be solved by signing even more attackers, we lack the profile of player who can collect the ball deep and distribute it to start attacks properly.

Thiago/Alonso type would be ideal but literally anyone with a passing range who doesn't carry the ball forwards in a straight line then get all confused and pass it back to where he's just been (cough Gravenberch/Szobo)

02 Nov 2026 08:27:07
Didn't we sign Wirtz to unlock defences like Arsenal's? Who, I thought, defended superbly by the way.

02 Nov 2026 08:38:35
They defended brilliantly but were unlocked a few times, so they fouled our players.

Nothing you can do if the ref and VAR don't call it.

02 Nov 2026 08:44:58
Mc Allister is a very good passer of the ball from deep. There are no such "elite passer" at Arsenal either. Zibemendi who was known as the "Alonso type" can't get a game for them.
Wirtz was signed to win us the league.

02 Nov 2026 08:47:35
Ignore VAR and the ref. We were second best. Arsenal were comfortable especially in the second half. They showed why they are the champions. Us? A lot of huff and puff but zero end product which is undeniably poor considering there was half a billion worth of forwards on the pitch.

02 Nov 2026 08:50:45
Only watched highlights when I got back, Ron. I don't blame the ref for not giving pens. The shirt tug should have been brought to the ref's attention by VAR, for him to decide.

Regards to Arsenal fouling; I would have to watch the game back and I can't be bothered.

The bottom line is, we've won one game at home out of five. That simply isn't good enough. We're heading in the right direction, but, like I've repeatedly said, there's no quick fix.

02 Nov 2026 09:07:28
I definitely definitely don't think that Isak should have gone down, but he should definitely have made a huge fuss about the shirt pull and given the referee an earful instead of joking around with Timber after the fact about the shirt being tugged, and our players should have backed him up, Isak is a really laid back and soft spoken character and in these sorts of situations he needs to do everything he can to get us an advantage, that's his job as a footballer.

He needs to be more of a killer to justify the price tag, Arsenal are champions because they do all the unspoken, unglamorous parts of the game to win a game of football.

02 Nov 2026 09:23:29
We lost because we don't have a frontline that can successfully have a shot on target for 90 minutes.

02 Nov 2026 09:42:02
Spot on ArAy. you should pin this on the top of the page,

02 Nov 2026 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - MCR has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool's Wide Areas Are Letting Us Down

01 Nov 2026 21:33:29
I think declan rice is overrated and the quality in the Premier League has lessened. I think he's top class and would go straight into our midfield.
World class? Well then the games regressed.

I have always thought peak Jordan Henderson would edge this rice. Henderson was a better passer. Same engine and legs. I think the hype on him is crazy atm. He wouldn't be a patch on Gerrard.

01 Nov 2026 22:22:54
He's overrated, but he's top class?!

01 Nov 2026 22:30:47
Let's be real, Rice would improve our midfield two-fold. He has the bite we are sorely missing, and the engine to match.

Having said that, really excited to see what kind of player Nyoni will be in a few years time.

01 Nov 2026 22:40:18
I'm concerned as I think I am starting to get what Ron is saying!

Basically, Rice is not as good as he is made out to be, but he would still improve our midfield.

I'd go along with that, and I'm also really excited to see how Trey develops over the next few seasons, Mango.

01 Nov 2026 22:48:51
You can be world class and overrated at the same time. World class isn't a static thing, if you're up there with the best in the world in your position you're world class. He is. But that doesn't mean he's a special player by any means, it's an indictment of the lack of quality players around these days.

01 Nov 2026 23:21:20
Zeddicus 😘.

01 Nov 2026 23:48:01
Trey's going to be brilliant.

01 Nov 2026 23:54:15
I'd have Rice in our midfield over any of ours right now to be honest.

01 Nov 2026 23:57:58
Our midfield was quite good today until Trey went off I think.

02 Nov 2026 06:42:20
Trey was good today. Rice is an outstanding player.
We started to slow, gave them to much respect.
Overall progress is being made. Our future looks good.

What a difference it would make if VAR did their job, same goes for Isak by the way.

02 Nov 2026 07:08:51
Stopped reading after "No better than Henderson". How exactly is Henderson a better passer?

02 Nov 2026 07:43:27
It's OK to give credit where it's due. Rice is a very good player, one of the best mids in the PL at the moment.
He'd absolutely walk into our starting 11. World class (whatever that means)? Probably not. But, as much as I loved the guy, Hendo was also nowhere near top shelf.

Desire, passion, drive and commitment: yeah, world class, but that only gets you so far.
Having said that, I think even present day Hendo would add a control and calmness to our midfield that we lack from time to time.

02 Nov 2026 08:49:53
Rice is the best midfield player in the league. To think otherwise is foolish. He's exactly what Liverpool require.